


Switching it Off (and turning it on again)

by CaptainSummerDay



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-02-04 10:56:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1776598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainSummerDay/pseuds/CaptainSummerDay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye loves her job at Shield Consulting. It's seriously awesome. Except for one thing...</p><p>Dealing with Tech Support.</p><p>Office AU in which Grant makes a bad first impression.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Trouble with Tech Support

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anuna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anuna/gifts).



> Yes. I'm sorry. The chapter count has increased. Originally I was going to end the fic at part 3, but after getting hit by a rabid plot bunny and consulting with the giftee it was decided that I should split the rapidly growing final act into three. In the future my friends need to stop putting enticing gifs on my dash while I'm trying to write (you know who you are... but I still love ya).  
> Hope this decision doesn't upset anyone and I promise to do my best to make it all worthwhile. ;)

“Noooooooo!”

Skye stared in open-mouthed disbelief as the screen in front of her suddenly stopped displaying her carefully composed email and instead flashed blue with white text. A low but super annoying tone buzzed out through her headset.

“You have _got_ to be kidding me!”

One restart followed by random bashing of her keyboard later and Skye knew that the useless husk of electronics on her desk was in fact, not kidding. It was instead deadly serious.

And evil.

Had she mentioned useless? Screw it; the more it blinked at her, the more adjectives were flooding her mind.

Bad words would surely follow and as Receptionist and the ‘Friendly Face of Shield Consulting’ there was only one thing for it.

Skye was going to have to call Tech Support.

*

“Oh! You must be the new receptionist! So lovely to meet you, we’ve all been wondering when you would arrive.”

Skye could still remember that first day, orientation folder clutched to her chest when she had met the two analysts on Coulson’s team. Jemma had all but dragged her around the building, accompanied (as always) by Fitz, the dour Scot barely cracking a smile for the first hour.

(The secret, Skye soon discovered, was Assam tea, a splash of full fat milk and one carefully measured teaspoon of sugar. Teabag had to be left in the boiling water for at least three minutes before you even thought of removing it to add anything else. Then Fitz would blossom like a daisy on a summer’s morning.)

The duo had fast become some of Skye’s closest friends and easily her favourite people in the office. They would huddle around the table in the back left corner of the break room, exchanging hilarious anecdotes and arranging plans for their next night out together once work quietened down again. So when Skye’s newfound buddies and confidents had paled at her casual mention of wanting to head down to IT on the second floor and introduce herself, Skye had paid attention.

“I remember when the compiling software crashed and I had to phone Tech Support. Fitz was almost in tears by the time the program was running again.”

Fitz had nodded frantically, his eyes glassy. “I haven’t been that scared since the time we found out the caterers forgot the Scotch Eggs at Great Aunt Isobel’s golden wedding.”

Skye had paused, her usual smile fading. “Aw come on Fitz, it can’t have been that bad.”

“You’ve not seen an Edinburgh Matron in a fury. Lucky we remembered to bring mum’s homemade tablet is all I can say.”

Skye had blinked in confusion as Jemma leaned across the table to gently touch Fitz’s arm in support.

“She means your brush with Ward, not the fallout of the Great Gathering of Clan Fitz, 2005.”

“Oh right.” Fitz had turned to look Skye straight in the eyes then, the strength of feeling behind his next words impossible to avoid. “The man’s a robot. No. Not a robot. The Terminator. If he’d demanded my clothes, boots and motorcycle I would have been left weeping in just my keks.”

Jemma sighed as she rolled her eyes. “Now you’re just exaggerating Fitz. Besides, you don’t even own a motorcycle.”

“I would have stolen one, Jemma. That’s the point. A criminal record and some big tattooed hairy inmate named Roadkill using me as a loofah in the showers would have been preferable to what he put me through.”

Skye had caught Jemma’s pleading look and swiftly changed the topic.

“So...who else is excited about GTA5? I know I can’t wait...”

And then the usual banter had resumed and the trio had parted ways after agreeing to meet later for drinks, nachos and some COD action.

But Fitzsimmon’s warning had stayed with Skye, the haunted look in Fitz’s eyes as he remembered his ordeal had been enough to ensure Skye had always used her own creative workarounds whenever her decades old computer system had decided to be temperamental. (Someone really needed to talk to Coulson about the difference between nostalgia and living in the past). However, some tech failings could only be remedied with either an admin password or new hardware.

Skye suspected it would take both to breathe life into collection of circuit boards and cables currently masquerading as a computer on her desk. She bit back a sigh as she reached for the phone handset to dial the never used extension number: 084. IT and Tech Support.

_I mean, really. How bad could it be?_ Skye mused as she listened to the dial tone as the phone rang at the other end. 

*

“This better not be another wasted call out.”

Skye glanced up from back-up email server she was running on her phone as the peevish voice broke her concentration.

Her first thought was mild panic at having missed the email about whatever important life event of one of her colleagues warranted a stripper. The second, after a moment taking in the long tall drink of water currently rocking glasses and a hilarious send-up of corporate drone business wear, was that whoever had made the booking had good taste.

Skye leaned slightly to her right to get a better view round the unnecessary obstruction that used to be a monitor.

Oh yeah. _Seriously_ good taste. Even with the glower and death stare behind those sensible black frames, this guy was hot enough to need several fire safety warnings.

Skye was still mentally running through her list of possible stripper bookers so she knew who best to butter up with cupcakes before her birthday when she realised Mr Sexy was speaking again.

“...I swear to god, someone needs to start making hiring decisions based on competence rather than the ability to look ‘cute’ and smile inanely.”

Skye felt her mouth drop open as she was skewered by an angry stare.

Oh my god, no way. _This_ was tech support?

“Do you think you might be able to tell me what the problem is? Or would that be too much to expect?”

Skye could only blink in shock as the pointed silence dragged out before Grant Ward, IT and Tech Support (and cause of grown men weeping) let out a laboured sigh and looked to the ceiling as if seeking answers.

“Just please don’t say you’ve dragged me up here to delete some embarrassing over share caused by your inability to not click ‘reply all’ on an email.”

Skye suddenly found the power of speech returning in a rush.

“No. My computer’s fried and I need to get it running again.”

Once again, dark caramel eyes swept back over her face but this time, Skye was immune due to the fact that the guy sneering at her was a grade A douche.

Like, seriously. What next? Was he going to ask her if she’d tried turning it off and switching it back on again?

“I don’t suppose you’ve tried turning it off and switching it back on again?”

Okay.

That was it.

Skye was done mentally unbuttoning that pristine white shirt.

Rage mode engaged.

“The external drive is still running, so I’m guessing the power unit isn’t the problem. However, I can’t even boot into the bios so it looks like the motherboard’s gone. Which isn’t surprising as ASUS stopped support on this model five years back, but try telling that to the idiots responsible for purchasing hardware.”

Boom. Headshot. 

Skye was rewarded with an expression of shock and a long, slow (and oh so satisfying) blink as it was Ward’s turn to be rendered speechless.

“Of course, I’m not the expert,” she smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes in a simpering manner, “So I’ll let you handle all that hard, technical stuff while I just sit here and update my facebook.”

And with that, Skye spun on her chair and sauntered off towards the staff canteen.

She could hear the spluttering behind her all the way down the corridor.


	2. Chapter 2

“Don’t get me wrong, Skye, not that it isn’t lovely to see you up here on the fourth floor for once, but don’t you have, you know, _work_ , to be doing?”

Skye glanced up from her mobile screen as she hit the button to send out the group email she had just finished composing and swivelled from her spot on Jemma’s desk to face the analyst.

“That’s what I’m doing.” Skye waved the Smartphone briefly at Jemma before turning back to the screen and bringing up the meeting room booking plan. “Joys of the interconnective age.”

“Oh right. Erm. Good for you. It’s just-“

“The rest of us have work to do too.”

Skye let out an exaggerated gasp as she turned to meet Fitz’s eyes across the low desk partition.

“And I brought you tea!”

Fitz broke the stare first with an inaudible mumble as he turned back to his computer screen. Skye grinned as she turned back to a visibly conflicted Jemma.

Skye knew that look. Looked like an explanation was in order.

Skye let out a sigh as she finished blocking out a three hour booking and sent the details to Melinda for sign off before putting her phone down.

“Sorry guys, it’s just I can’t go back to my desk. I’m like, office homeless right now.” She turned her most pathetic and pleading face towards Jemma. “Let me desk crash a little longer?”

“Oh, Skye, really? Surely that’s a little strong. I can’t possibly even begin to imagine what would drive you away from-“

“My computer died and I had to call Tech Support.” Skye blurted out.

The silence that stretched out was only broken when the sound of Fitz pushing his chair away from the desk caused both Jemma and Skye to look over.

“You put the kettle on, Jemma. I’m going for the emergency stash.”

Jemma nodded and grabbed Skye’s hand, tugging her off the desk and towards the small kitchenette at the back of the office floor. Once there, Jemma quickly scanned the room before grabbing three mugs from the cupboard and launching into the medicinal tea making routine.

“Skye, I know Ward can be, well, a bit of an arse...”

Skye nodded vigorously as her mind drifted back to more pleasant times, blissful times, when her biggest concern had been if company policy covered abs induced heart attacks.

“What an ass.” She murmured.

Wait. What?

Luckily Jemma hadn’t seemed to notice the momentary glaze that swept over Skye’s face before sanity returned as she turned to the mugs lined up on the countertop and pressed one into Skye’s hands.

“But that’s not really an excuse to take up office squatting. Here. Everything’s going to be fine. You’ll see.”

Skye could only smile weakly as she followed Jemma back to the desks and let Fitz force feed her Jaffa cakes. The whole situation was ridiculous when she thought about it. As if she was going to let some self important robot force her into hiding.

Not that Skye was hiding.

She was just a sociable person making the most of an opportunity to spend more time with her friends.

She was definitely not avoiding the human looking cyborg in reception. Skye had seen Blade Runner. She didn’t need any Voight-Kampff test to know what to do.

Skye was just going to drink her tea, steal the rest of the Jaffa cakes and return to her desk.

And no one, be they man or replicant was going to stop her.

*

There was no one, man or replicant waiting when Skye returned to her desk.

There was also no computer.

There was however a sleek looking laptop on top of which was a post-it note with log on instructions.

Skye paused her battle song playlist mid Beyonce as she scanned her surroundings and carefully sat back down. When nothing jumped out at her she shrugged and flipped open the computer. It looked like she had seen the last of Grant Ward.

And she had a shiny new toy to break in.

*

Skye grinned as she slid into the chair at the plastic table. “Okay, I’m not sure why or even how I managed to convert you to the dark side, but you totally made my morning.”

She was met with twin blank expressions from the other occupants. Which was unexpected to say the least, but then maybe it was a British thing. Whatever. Skye’s day currently rocked.

And they were serving Pad Thai today for lunch. Major rockage.

Jemma cleared her throat and gave Skye a hesitant smile, “Errr, that’s...good?”

Fitz frowned as he looked between Skye and Jemma, his confusion evident. “What? What’s good? Jemma? Did you do something?”

“I...don’t think so?”

Skye rolled her eyes. “Haha guys. No really. I’m not sure why you felt the need to win my affections with awesome coffee creations, but it was super appreciated.”

And it really had been. The journey into work that morning had been a nightmare as routine maintenance and road works had turned public transit into an exercise in endurance. Skye had been seriously doubting her ability to even answer a phone, let alone be friendly and engaging until she had seen it.

Tall. Majestic. The elegant swirls of the gourmet coffee company branding clear and evident on the insulating ripple of the caramel coloured card.

And sat on her desk.

With her name scrawled on the side so Skye knew that this wasn’t some act of almost criminal negligence. Oh no. This hazelnut mocha delicacy, stacked with whipped cream and a caramel swirl was all hers.

And seriously, bonus points to her friends because even _Skye_ didn’t know that was her favourite drink ever until she had tasted it.

Skye munched on her Pad Thai, only half listening to the good natured bickering between her lunch companions as she pondered the best way to show her gratitude. Returning the favour seemed a little pointless as Skye knew for a fact the pair had stockpiled tea like they were expecting a repeat of Boston Harbour. Maybe she could arrange something at the annual company barbeque that was coming up?

Skye was so lost mulling over her options that she failed to notice the sudden reduction in background noise in the busy canteen.

Fitz froze, his sandwich halfway to his mouth as the colour visibly drained from his face. “Oh my god. Nobody move. If we don’t move maybe he won’t see us.”

Skye glanced up from her attempts to wrestle the last of her noodles onto her fork. “Who won’t...?”

Skye began to turn to follow Fitz’s gaze when a sharp hiss halted her mid turn.

“Skye! No. Remember David Attenborough. His vision’s based on movement”

“Richard Attenborough, Fitz, and he didn’t even say that line. Have you been watching Jurassic Park again? You know what happened the last time.” Jemma shook her head and continued to butter her roll.

Skye glanced between the two Brits, once again lost by the unexpected turn in conversation. “The last time...”

“It was all a big misunderstanding.”

Jemma let out a delicate snort. “Oh. A misunderstanding? And I’m sure that old man you ended up assaulting would agree with you. Poor dear was only trying to help...”

“I can’t help it. It’s a conditioned response to little arms and abort, abort, abort, he’s heading this way. Oh god.”

“Who is?”

But Fitz was too busy attempting to sink through his chair to the floor to answer Skye’s question. She looked instead to Jemma who glanced up and froze as her eyes fixed on something just behind Skye.

And that’s when she felt it.

The little prickle on the back of her neck that always meant she’d somehow attracted attention.

_Unwanted_ attention.

A cough caused Skye to look up, smile plastered to her face as she met the most feared gaze in Shield Consulting.

“Skye.”

“Ward. What a... surprise seeing you here.”

That was the understatement of the century. As far as Skye was aware the surly IT specialist had never ventured into the canteen. The looks he was currently receiving seemed to back up that opinion and yet Grant Ward just continued to stand there as Skye amped up her smile.

“Can I help you with something?”

Ward muttered something under his breath, the only word of which seemed to make sense was trip, and, like _that_ was going to happen with Skye being safely sat down and all. She fought the urge to roll her eyes as her cheeks began to hurt from the effort of maintaining her smile.

“Sorry, kinda missed that. Guess my mumble to English translator must be broken...”

Ward frowned, his attention seemingly fixed on a spot just over Skye’s shoulder. She resisted the temptation to turn around and see just what was so absorbing before he straightened and huffed out a breath.

“The diagnostics came back and procurement signed off on a replacement system. It should be with you in the next ten days.”

Skye blinked in confusion.

“Replacement? But I thought the laptop-“

“Is a loan. While you wait. For your new computer.”

God. This was painful. It was like she was having to physically force the words from him.

And honestly? Skye was a little bummed to learn she was going to be losing such an awesome piece of technology. She’d spent the last few days bonding with that laptop. Hell, they were practically connected 24/7 it was that amazing.

“Huh. Damn. If I’d have known that, I wouldn’t have spent as much time completely owning at all the card games.”

Ooh, was that a crack in the facade Skye saw as Ward awkwardly cleared his throat? What was that saying about small miracles again?

“Playing games is against company policy.”

“I think you’ll find that the policy actually states that we’re not allowed to download or copy _additional_ software onto Shield systems. It makes no mention of pre-existing programming.”

Ward blinked and shuffled his feet as she smiled sweetly at him before muttering something about diagnostics. Skye mentally scored a strike in the air as he turned and left the canteen.

Ha. Skye 1, Ward 0. Booyah.

Skye turned back round to face the open mouthed shock of her friends.

“And that, is how it’s done.”

Skye winked as she stood up and walked out of the canteen.

Oh yeah.

It was official.

Best. Day. Ever.

*

“You must be Skye. S’up?”

Skye looked up from her keyboard to be instantly blinded by a brilliant white smile. When her vision cleared she was left blinking at the sight before her.

Seriously. What was up with the sheer amount of gorgeousness that paraded round this office?

Skye made a mental note to befriend the entirety of the HR department as she returned the smile with one of her own.

“Hey, strange yet attractive man I don’t know...”

Boom. There went that grin again, (Skye really had to find out who did the hiring round here) as the handsome stranger leaned onto the desk and winked at Skye.

“Antoine Triplett, but you can call me Trip. Thought it was probably time I came down here and introduced myself.”

Skye fought hard not to giggle or twirl her hair and instead reached out and shook the hand that was stretched out before her.

“Oh. Cool. Nice to meet you, Trip.”

“Right back at you. Now I’m starting to see what all the fuss was about.”

Panic seized Skye. It’s not like a receptionist really would stand out against the backdrop of brilliance that made Shield Consulting the number one employer in the city. What could...

Oh god.

Please not the brownie incident.

Skye cleared her throat and tried to ignore the amusement that was playing across Trip’s face as he seemed to read her every thought. (She was knocking points off for that. Mind reading? Not sexy)

“Is this about that thing with the catering? Because, I swear, I thought they were just a regular bakery...”

Trip let out a loud bark of laughter causing Skye to jump. He shook his head as he wiped at his eyes.

“You kidding? That was the most chilled out I’ve seen Hand in years. _Years_. First time Garrett hasn’t reduced her to the threat of homicide. Plus we walked away with the contract. And a couple weeks after that, _all_ I’m hearing about is this amazing computer genius who for some reason is working reception and then I kinda lost track of all adjectives. Smart was in there definitely, and funny was used several times...”

“I...I don’t think, there might have been a mix-up...”

“Oh no. It was you alright. _Nailed_ the description, although for some reason I was expecting you to sound more like Lara Croft. And have a gun. Or a tazer at least.”

Skye let out a laugh of her own as she felt herself relax.

“Now I know someone’s been exaggerating”

“Ha. That’s funny...” Trip seemed to be on the verge of saying something more when a beeping came from his jacket pocket. He rolled his eyes at Skye as he reached in and grabbed the phone, quickly scrolling through the message before returning it to its home. “Sadly, duty calls. Be seeing you around, Skye.”

Skye grinned as Trip pushed himself off the desk with a salute. “Nice meeting you, Trip.”

Trip laughed as he backed away towards the elevators. “Oh, same here. You have no idea.”

Huh. Weird.

*

Skye froze as she walked through the entrance and caught sight of her desk.

Or to be accurate, caught sight of _what_ was on her desk.

(And for once Skye was not referring to the caffeinated beverage that was sitting there just as it had been for the last two weeks. Which Fitz and Simmons were still being bizarrely coy about, but whatever. Skye didn’t really let that bother her as she slurped her way to coffee paradise.)

No. Glinting enticingly on top of Skye’s chrome and glass office home was a gift from the IT gods up in computer heaven.

Dual widescreen monitors. Ergonomic keyboard. Wireless mouse.

Skye could feel her inner geek itching to switch it on and see what wonders lay in that elegant casing. She slid into her chair and placed her laptop bag down as her finger pressed the on button and the machine instantly sparked into life.

SSHD, almost silent running and holy crap, just how much processing power did this thing have?

Skye glanced down at the laptop that had served her so well the past two weeks and placed a hand over her heart.

“I’m sorry. Truly. I want you to know that I’m always going to treasure our time together... but...I’ve met someone new.”

Skye turned to face the Shield Consulting log on screen but instead found herself looking up at a face that had become strangely familiar in the last couple of weeks.

Although the expression on Ward’s face was one that Skye hadn’t seen before and... holy freaking no way, _just how long had he been standing there?_

Skye forced a smile as she waited for the ground to open up beneath her.

“Ward. Hi. I don’t suppose you’ve just got here and therefore missed all of that?”

Oh god. Did the corner of his mouth just twitch?

It did. That was totally a twitch. Oh no. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. This was not happening.

Skye watched as Ward’s eyebrows lifted and he nodded towards the laptop.

“I’m here to collect...”

Skye almost fumbled in her haste to push the computer towards Ward while avoiding eye contact.

“Of course, here. Take it.”

Oh god.

He was still standing there.

She could feel her cheeks burning.

“Skye.”

She glanced up to see Ward nod and turn away.

Dammit, she caught the smile too.

Skye let out a deep breath as she collapsed back in her chair.

At least she still had sweet, soothing gourmet coffee to ease the pain.

But she was totally going to have to head upstairs to raid the Fitzsimmons emergency stash.

Dammit.


	3. Chapter 3

Skye felt her stomach give an appreciative rumble as the breeze carried the smoky scent of hickory and spices over to where she was sitting. Combined with the summer sun (that was currently gaining top marks in its attempts to beat any memories of office desks and fluorescent lighting into submission) and Skye was starting to understand why the entirety of Shield Consulting had been buzzing this last week about the annual company barbeque.

She let out a happy sigh as she slipped on her sunglasses and collapsed onto the soft grass behind her. Was there a better way to spend a day than stretched out in the sunshine next a beautiful lake, with the promise of food and fun later? Plus as a massively welcome bonus, Skye also had a killer Wi-Fi connection thanks to the nearby ‘vacation home’ of Shield’s former director. She’d already spammed most of her social networking sites with all the photos she’d taken on her phone when she’d arrived. Her only regret was that she hadn’t brought a bathing suit.

“I hope you’re wearing sun cream.”

Skye grinned as she looked up to see Jemma standing over her and stuck out her tongue.

“Is that jealousy I hear? And would you mind not blocking my sun? You’re interrupting something beautiful.”

Skye laughed as Jemma rolled her eyes.

“Well as much as I hate to break up your deep and meaningful attachment to skin cancer, can we at least move over to the shade? Fitz doesn’t share your sun-loving tendencies.”

Skye glanced over to the figure currently struggling with an enormous looking wicker case as he made his way over. “What is he carrying?”

Jemma sighed as she reached down and helped Skye to her feet. “It’s a picnic hamper. How about we set up over by the trees? We’d have a lovely view of the shore from there.”

Skye laughed as Fitz finally reached them and the trio made their way towards the tree line. “A picnic hamper? Really? You do know they have food here, right?”

Fitz dropped the hamper onto the ground and shook his head at Skye sadly. “Ah, poor sweet innocent child. So much to learn...”

Skye watched with a bemused smile as the two Brits quickly opened the hamper and spread a large rug over the ground, their movements tightly co-ordinated as they unpacked an array of Tupperware boxes with near military precision.

She blinked when a strongly scented jar was thrust under her nose.

“Pickled egg?”

*

Skye had barely finished the last bite of her burger before the used paper plate was whipped from her hands and deposited in the hamper with the now empty food containers. Despite her friends’ urgings to try the various food stuffs they had brought with them, Skye had decided that the barbeque had seemed a safer bet. Although now that she glanced over and saw that the simmering tension between the two staff members manning the grill seemed to have escalated, she was starting to rethink her decision. Skye watched in amazement as Victoria Hand, (head of public relations) marched over to John Garrett (sales and marketing) and upturned a pitcher of water over his head.

“Aaaaand, they’re off again.”

Skye turned to face Fitz who was watching the unfolding drama as he munched his way through a bag of pork scratchings.

“Are they always like this?”

“Oh yeah. Happens every year. Why’d you think we brought the picnic? At least they seem to be keeping the food out of it this time.”

Skye shook her head as she watched several staff members rush over to separate the battling department heads. She rubbed the back of her neck absentmindedly. The sun must be hotter than she originally thought as she could feel a tingle starting to build there. With a sigh she gathered up her hair and pulled it into a messy ponytail, enjoying the instant relief as a cooling breeze aided in her efforts.

Skye was about to suggest heading down to the water’s edge when she felt a buzzing in her pocket. Moments later she rolled her eyes as her phone rang with a notification alert. Really?

Skye fished out her phone and frowned as she started to scan through the email. It didn’t take long to realise it had been sent in error, the intended recipient clearly named in the opening few lines. With a sigh she pulled up her access to the Shield Consulting email server and dutifully forwarded it on.

“No. I don’t believe this. You better not be working. Man, what is it with you computer types? The world’s not going to end if you switch off for a few hours, you know.”

Sky looked up to find the disapproving sternness on Trip’s face offset by a smile she couldn’t help but return.

“Guilty as charged?”

“Thank you!” Jemma exclaimed with relief. “We were starting to think we were going to have to prise that phone from her fingers, the amount of time she spends on it.”

Trip let out a loud laugh as he shook his head. “I know the feeling. I’ve spent the last week wondering if I even had a roommate anymore, he’s been spending so much time getting reacquainted with a damn machine. Surprised I even managed to drag him out today in all honesty.”

Skye smiled as she followed Trip’s nod down to the water where a tall figure stood with his back to them, deep in conversation with Director Coulson and his P.A, Melinda May. Even from this distance she allowed herself a moment of appreciation as she took in the way the dark denim clung to...

Wait.

Skye knew that ass.

Oh no. This was not happening.

Skye’s worst fears were confirmed a moment later when the figure turned round.

Oh god.

This was happening.

She’d just been caught checking out Grant Ward.

By his roommate.

Who was currently grinning at her with a knowing look on his face.

Skye struggled to fight the burning sensation on her own as she opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted as a shout grabbed Trip’s attention. He glanced back at her with a wink.

“Sounds like they’re about to start playing my song.”

Skye felt her eyes widen as she saw the moment Ward spotted Trip. The flush spread full force across her cheeks when she saw the IT specialist freeze as his gaze locked on her. Without his glasses there was nothing to deflect the intense stare that pinned Skye to the spot. She found herself unable to look away until a soft laugh next to her startled her out of her daze.

“Gotta go.”

Trip threw the trio a lazy salute as he started to jog away. Suddenly something Trip had said earlier began to work its way through Skye’s mind.

“Wait... Trip!”

Too late. Skye could only watch in horror as Trip reached Ward and caused the man to stagger slightly from the slap to his back. She let out a groan as she felt twin stares of interest coming from the picnic blanket.

“Skye...” began Jemma expectantly. “Care to share with the class?”

“Not really...” Skye mumbled as she avoided eye contact, the pattern on the cloth she was sat on suddenly fascinating to her.

Jemma’s sigh of exasperation was cut short when a shadow fell on the blanket causing the trio to look up.

“Hi!”

Skye wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or relieved as she took in the smiling bearded face and clipboard. She wrinkled her nose as she tried to place him. “Miles, right? From accounting, was it?”

“And you’re Skye. You have no idea how long I’ve been working up the nerve to come and speak to you, but now I have an excuse...”

Skye laughed as Miles tapped the board in his hands. From behind her she heard an excited gasp from Jemma.

“Is that...?”

“Sign ups for the inter-department volleyball match and yearly highlight of the Shield social calendar. Short on teams at the moment-“

“We’re in.” Jemma burst out as Fitz let out a groan and covered his face with his hands.

Miles grinned as he made a note on his sheet. “Looking to retain your title, huh?”

Skye turned to look at Jemma, “You guys are the reigning champions?”

Jemma nodded proudly. “I was captain of the school netball team three years in a row. It’s all mathematics really, well and physics. Appropriate force and angles you know.”

Fitz peeked out from behind his fingers. “It’s not that. She’s vicious on the pitch. You should have seen her last year. I was terrified and I was on her team!”

Skye blinked as Jemma swatted at Fitz’s arm in mock annoyance. “You think you know a person...”

“And how about you? Fancy giving your friends a run for their money?”

Skye laughed as she turned back to Miles. “I’d need someone to team up with for a start. Not sure I could handle life as a lone gunman.”

Miles matched her smile and he leaned down. “If you’re looking for a teammate look no further. Can’t promise we’ll be able to take down the destroyer here, but you don’t know until you try...”

“Deal.” Skye said with a grin then turned to point a threatening finger at her companions. “You’re going down.”

Jemma rolled her eyes. “Oh Skye...I’ll believe that, when I see it.”

*

Forty minutes later and Skye was starting to suspect she’d underestimated her friends, or at least Jemma, who was currently earning her nickname as she brutally annihilated the competition through what seemed to be a faultless combination of spikes, digs and volleys. While Miles and Skye had done enough in their matches to ensure a place in the finals, it looked like certain defeat was looming.

Miles let out a low whistle as he walked up in time to see Jemma slam the ball into the ground on the opposite side of the net.

“The Destroyer strikes again. Now you get why I was struggling to find willing volunteers.”

Skye nodded mutely as Miles handed her a beer and they both took a slug in silence. After another brutal attack from Simmons, Skye turned away with a shudder. “I’m just hoping our friendship means something...”

Miles laughed as he took another draw from the bottle. “Hey, I don’t suppose you have a phone on you? I feel a pressing need to tell my family that I love them and mine’s out of battery...”

Skye grinned as she fished her phone out of her pocket and unlocked it before handing it over to her teammate. He winked as her as his fingers started moving over the screen. “Be right back. Don’t want to ruin my image by crying in front of my co-workers.”

Skye let out a laugh as she watched him quickly make his way over to the cabin. As she let her eyes drift over the crowd (anything to avoid the ongoing slaughter that was currently playing out in front of her) she noticed Director Coulson had joined the crowd of spectators. She smiled when he caught her eye, draining her beer before she started heading over.

_Might as well make a good impression now rather than later,_ Skye mused.

Coulson greeted her with a warm smile, turning his attention from the game.

“Skye. Our newest recruit. Having fun?”

Skye laughed as she nodded to the game behind her, “Currently? Yeah, but ask me again in about twenty minutes and I might have a different answer.”

Coulson chuckled as he watched Jemma slam a ball inches past her opponent’s face, the terror in his eyes clear to read even at this distance.

“Always been the highlight of the day, although, they haven’t had any real competition since all that nasty business went down a couple of years back. Such a shame. I always feel a challenge brings out the best in people.”

Skye frowned as she lost the thread of the conversation. Coulson was back to smiling and nodding as he watched the two analysts score another point.

Skye cleared her throat awkwardly, “Speaking of bringing out the best in people, I just wanted to say thank you, and you totally didn’t have to get me such an awesome upgrade, but I’m also really glad that you did.”

Coulson blinked as he cocked his head at her, “Upgrade?”

“Yeah. The replacement computer you ordered when my old one got fried. Super appreciated.”

Coulson laughed as he shook his head. “It’s not me you should be thanking. I don’t even sign the requests any more. I leave all that to Melinda. But all the technical details are up to the relevant departments. I have faith that my team know what they’re doing.”

A loud cry suddenly erupted around the field as Fitzsimmons scored the winning point. Skye turned in time to see Jemma punch the air in triumph while Fitz collapsed to the ground behind her.

Coulson nodded towards the field as he gave Skye a supporting pat on the shoulder. “Looks like you’re up.”

He winked as he walked away and Trip called out a fifteen minute break before the final. Skye turned and scanned the crowd, looking for Miles. Right now she felt the need for her teammate and some moral support.

The accountant was nowhere to be seen however. Skye was midway though a second pass of the bar area in case he’d gone looking for Dutch courage when she bumped into Trip.

“Hey, Skye. Just been looking for you. Ready to play some ball?”

“Well I would be if I could just find my teammate. I think that last match may have been too much for him and dammit! Where the hell is he?”

“You want me to hold the start another five minutes?”

“No. Thanks for the offer but it looks like we’re going to have to forfeit. Urgh. I hate giving up without even trying...”

Trip studied Skye’s face as she continued to crane her neck while she scanned the crowds for the familiar dishevelled mop of hair to no success. When she dropped back down with a defeated sigh, he winked at her.

“I got this. You get that cute behind of yours onto the pitch and leave this to me.”

Skye pulled a face and opened her mouth to protest but was cut off by a stern look. “No. Pitch. Now.”

After a moment or two where Skye realised any form of argument was pointless, she let out a sigh and shook her head as she made her way across to the net. Great. She had somehow managed to lose the only hope she had of avoiding a messy and probably painful death at the hands of her best friends. And add to that she had to try and lose with dignity in front of everyone she worked with. So not awesome.

She could see Fitz and Simmons on the other side waiting, an almost maniacal gleam in Jemma’s eyes as she grinned at Skye. Around her the crowd started to swell as the entire office staff gathered round to watch.

Well, the entire office staff apart from one key (chickenshit) player...

Skye let out another sigh as she tried to force her shoulders straighter and summon up some kind of inner strength.

This was going to be humiliating.

Suddenly Trip’s voice cut across the murmurs as he made his way over.

“Ladies and Gentleman! We have a last minute substitution due to unforeseen circumstances. Replacing Lyndon on our challenger’s team, and coming out of retirement for one game only, I give you... The Terminator!”

Skye saw the confident gleam in Jemma’s eyes flicker slightly as Fitz shook his head and started muttering.

There was only one person Skye could think of that would have that effect on her friends. But there was no way...

She turned in time to see Trip make his way out of the crowd all but dragging the somewhat resistant figure of his roommate behind him. With a supportive pat on the back (which actually looked more like a forceful shove) Trip released him onto the pitch and left Grant Ward stood in front of her.

He shuffled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Hi.”

Skye blinked in shock before blurting out the only thing she could think of.

“You’re not wearing your glasses.”

Oh god. She really just said that.

Ward cleared his throat. 

“They’re just to stop eye strain. From the screens, of the computers, at work I...”

Skye nodded as Grant trailed off and dropped his hand.

“Terminator?”

A sigh.

“I, it’s just a stupid nickname. From before. When I used to play.”

“Why’d you stop?”

“...I lost my partner.”

Skye felt a rueful smile tugging at her lips as she stuck out her hand. “Guess we have that in common.”

Grant stared at her hand for a moment before he reached out and shook it. “Guess we do.”

And then everything would have been fine if he hadn’t chosen that moment to smile at her.

Really smile.

The kind of smile that lit up his face and made Skye lose herself in those gorgeous eyes as they sparked with a fire she’d never noticed before.

She was so busy getting lost she failed to hear Trip call the start of the match.

Or notice the ball that Jemma had sent rocketing towards her.

Skye wasn’t aware of the impact.

She wasn’t aware of falling and hitting the ground. The only thing she was aware of, were the gentle hands holding her head as a frantic voice cut through her confused daze.

“Skye? Skye? You alright?”

Skye blinked as the distracting face of Grant Ward swam into focus.

“Ow.”

She could vaguely hear the accented tones of her friends enquiring if she was fine but was unable to focus on anything except the man currently running soft fingers down the side of her face as he checked for injuries. He finished his examination and looked into her eyes, concern etched all over those handsome features.

Okay. Skye was going to admit that Grant Ward was hot.

Especially when he wasn’t being a douche and instead was being all sweet and protective and caring.

Super hot.

He frowned at her, “You need to sit this one out?”

Skye shook her head (well, as much as she could while it was still cradled in Grants hands) an unfamiliar fire starting to grow inside her. “Hell no I’m not sitting this one out.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m not about to roll over without a fight!”

Grant grinned at her as his hands stopped their movement, instead supporting the back of her head as he leaned in towards her. “You want to fight?”

“No. I want to win.”

“Deal, Rookie.”

He stood up and pulled Skye to her feet. She was dimly aware of cheering coming from the crowd but only had eyes for her partner as he pulled her in closer to murmur against her ear, “Jemma has a weakness if you aim for her right side.”

“What about Fitz?”

“Just aim for him in general.”

Skye grinned. “Deal.”

*

Skye leapt up and spiked the ball downwards, her eyes never leaving it as it travelled past Jemma’s outstretched fingers to slam into the ground. She let out a shout of triumph as she turned and flung herself at Grant, hugging him tightly as she laughed. “Champions!”

There was a moment when Skye suddenly felt like she’d overstepped the yet to be defined boundaries of their new partnership as she felt Grant stiffen, but then his arms were around her as he swung her round in a circle while she crowed their success.

He put her down with an apologetic shrug. “Sorry. Sweaty.”

And then Skye lost all power of speech and reasoning as he lifted up his T-shirt to wipe at his face and she was left staring at a six pack so sculpted she could believe it was from an Italian statue.

Grant’s smile faded as he lowered his T-shirt and looked back at the still dazed Skye.

“Ah. Well, I guess I should...”

“I know it was you.” Skye blurted as she tried to stop him from leaving.

He stilled, avoiding her eyes and Skye mentally kicked herself as she forced out “I mean, you could have said something rather than the whole silent stare thing.”

Crap. No. That came out wrong.

He moved as if to leave and Skye reached out and touched his arm, the brush of her fingers stopping him mid turn, “Grant, I’m trying to say thank you.”

She didn’t move her hand as he turned back to face her, a softer smile now on his face as he looked down at her hand before meeting her eyes.

“It was my pleasure.”

And then Skye couldn’t hold in the smile that the expression in his eyes was pulling out of her any longer.

She’s not sure which one of them stepped closer first but she could feel his hand in hers, their fingers entwined as the rest of the world faded away and they grin at each other.

The moment was interrupted too soon by a familiar voice as Jemma reached them “Well done.”

“Cheaters.” Muttered Fitz.

Skye turned, but didn’t let go of Ward’s hand as she leaned back against him to face her friends. “Hey, I’m sorry if...” 

Jemma sighed and waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “It’s fine. Really. When you’re brought up worshipping underdogs and accepting failure as a cultural trait it’s hard to stay bitter. It was just nice while it lasted.”

Skye was aware of Ward shifting behind her until she was tucked in his arms with his chin resting by the side of her head.

“That was the toughest fight I’ve ever had.”

Jemma brightened noticeably at the sincerity in Grant’s compliment. “Really?”

Skye felt the nod that brushed against her cheek and fought to hold in the sigh that it produced. She glanced over to see Trip making his way towards the group, his smile bright enough to power half the state as he came to a stop in front of them.

“Good game.”

Ward shot a look at the grinning Trip before he laughed, the rumble in his chest making Skye grin too.

“I had a good coach.”

Trip winked at the pair before he flung an arm over Ward’s shoulder and gestured to the crowd.

“Damn right. My boy got game! Finally.”

And then the arms around Skye tightened and she couldn’t stop the laugh that burst out of her as she realised just how well both she and Grant had been played.

Game, set, match.


	4. Chapter 4

There were some days when the sun just seemed to shine a little brighter, regardless of the actual amount of cloud in sky. For once Skye had been wide awake before her alarm began loudly blaring its motivational brand of pop music. The warm, tingling butterflies that seemed to erupt in her stomach whenever she remembered the moments following her victory at the company Volleyball match had found her grinning at the ceiling of her room as morning had crept in.

Even the overeager bicycle courier, who seemed determined to cause her to lose her grip on the pair of gourmet coffees in her hand as she made her way towards Shield Consulting, couldn’t dampen the glow inside. Skye was still lost in the feel of Grant’s warmth around her as they had laughed and joked with their friends, the way his arms had tightened whenever Trip or Jemma or Fitz had glanced at them, before looking away with a knowing smile. They’d all been having such a great time that she’d barely noticed the other members of staff packing up and heading home until Jemma had pointed out how late it had gotten and they’d all said their goodbyes. She remembered the way Grant had held onto her hand, fingers softly stroking against her skin as he had smiled down at her before Trip pulled him away with a laugh and a slap on the back. The way their eyes lingered on each other before the darkness grew.

Skye could admit it. She had a crush on Grant Ward.

If by crush what she actually meant was huge, massive, colossal and rapidly growing pile of warm and tingly feelings that threatened to overwhelm her.

Luckily, Skye had a plan.

And it was awesome.

The coffees were just step one. Step two was going to involve an invitation to the bar with super cool music near her home. Step three featured a play on Grant’s chivalry by getting him to walk her home where hopefully step four (mapping every part of his body with her tongue) would quickly commence. And the best part was Skye was sure her plan was going to go without a hitch.

After all, it was pretty much flawless.

Just like those abs.

Skye shook her head to try and regain her focus as the large glass structure that housed her prey came into view. She was getting ahead of herself. First things first. Step one. Coffee.

Skye couldn’t hold back the smile that erupted across her face as she passed through the glass doors and looked across the lobby. For once, however, it was not because of some new caffeinated wonder waiting for her on her desk.

It was because of the man sat behind it.

Only the top of his head was visible above the monitor screen as he bent down over whatever he was working on, but Skye could already picture the look on his face when she presented him with her carefully chosen beverage. The way those brown eyes would warm to a burnt caramel as he accepted the drink. Then she would smile and wait for him to sip the vanilla/amaretto French press concoction before sidling in closer and casually mentioning that she’d heard there was a great band playing at a nearby bar and would he like to keep her company? By then Grant should be lost in the raptures of awesome coffee and his acceptance would probably be instantaneous.

Maybe he’d even kiss her, he’d be so overwhelmed with the awesome that was Skye’s plan.

Skye heard her footsteps falter as the thought made her toes curl.

Wait.

There might be a rule against that in the office handbook.

Crap.

Probably best to just smile. More professional.

Plenty of time for kissing later.

Skye bit her lip as she took a deep breath and stepped up to the desk.

Focus. Step one. Coffee.

Game face on.

“Look at you, making my life easier.”

Skye set the drinks down and smiled as Grant’s head snapped up.

Something inside her clenched and she felt the smile slide from her face as she saw the look in his eyes before they quickly darted away.

Oh god. He looked _stricken_.

“Grant...?” She asked hesitantly. She watched his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, the cold feeling inside growing as he continued to avoid her gaze. “Grant? What’s wrong?”

A cough from behind her caused her to turn around and see both Coulson and May standing in the lobby flanked by two of the building’s security guards. There was a moment where no one spoke, Skye’s wide-eyed confusion met with a row of stony expressions before Coulson stepped forward.

“On acceptance of your employment offer here at Shield Consulting, you signed several documents in relation to our company policies. Ms May herself explained to you the importance of said documents, in particular the one relating to confidentiality and information security.”

Skye blinked as she tried to process what was happening but the words didn’t seem to make any sense.

“I...”

“Also outlined to you at the time, were the potential ramifications should you chose to act against these agreements. Shield Consulting is built on trust and we take such matters very seriously. Last night a large amount of secure data was transferred across to our main competitor in an act we see as industrial sabotage.”

Coulson’s eyes flicked over Skye’s shoulder.

“Have you completed the data recovery, Ward?”

Skye turned to see a pale faced Grant nod briefly as he stared at the desk surface. She opened her mouth to try and ask him to tell her something, anything that would make sense but Coulson had already begun speaking again.

“May will escort you back down to conference room two. I’m sure you remember the drill.”

“Yes, sir.”

Something inside Skye broke at the soft, defeated whisper that escaped from Grant. She couldn’t stop herself from lunging forward as he moved to pass her, grabbing his arm as she finally made eye contact.

“Grant, I didn’t _do this_...”

Her hand was slapped away by May as she pushed Grant into motion again. “That’s what they all say.”

Skye could only stare open mouthed after the pair as they disappeared towards the elevators. In those moments when he’d looked at her, he’d just looked broken. Broken and resigned and hurt and...This was _not_ how things were supposed to go. She’d had a _plan_. An _awesome plan_. There was meant to be smiles and laughing and drinks and maybe even dancing and _god. Just not this_.

Another cough brought Skye’s attention back to Coulson.

“I am hereby formally suspending you, Skye, pending the results of our investigation for acts of industrial espionage, gross misconduct and breach of contract. Security is here to help you clean out your desk and escort you from the building.”

He nodded at the two men stood behind him who moved up to flank Skye.

“Our lawyers will be in touch.”

As Skye watched him turn and walk away she wondered if this was what it felt like to have your world fall apart.

 

*

 

Skye watched blankly as Jeep rolled off the cliff and the screen dimmed. Moments later the metal structure of a radio tower came into view. Numbly she pressed forward with the controls, climbing the creaking, swaying frame until she reached the top. The tropical beauty of Rook Island spread out beneath her, zip lines offering a multitude of possible ways down.

Skye moved the control stick and saw the ground rush up to meet her with an audio flourish.

Huffing out a sigh, Skye threw herself back on the couch cushions, the movement causing the empty bags of chips and candy to rustle. It wasn’t helping. None of it. The junk food, the five cans of energy drinks, the thirty minutes she’d spent sobbing in the shower before pulling on her sweatpants and hoodie...none of it helped ease the cold, bitter hole that seemed to swallow her up from the inside.

And the worst of it, the absolute worst thing about the whole sorry mess Skye was currently wallowing in, was she couldn’t get the look on Grant’s face when he’d met her eyes out of her head. He’d looked so... so... _betrayed._

 _And she hadn’t done anything_.

At first Skye had been convinced it was just a simple mix up. Some stupid clerical error that would be found out in moments and she’d be welcomed back with a flood of apologies. But as the hours had ticked by and Judge Judy had frowned disapprovingly at yet more clueless or conniving characters, Skye had felt her hope slowly wither and die.

So she’d reached for her controller and loaded up a glorious explosion of carnage and mayhem because that _always_ made her feel better. But instead Skye just felt hollow as she waged a lacklustre rampage on the digital island.

It just didn’t make sense.

None of it made any sense.

She was supposed to be winding down her workday, figuring out if she should undo one or two buttons on the cute blouse she’d been wearing before drinks and music and all the good things. Not slowly consuming her bodyweight in Ben and Jerry’s while she wondered if her meagre savings would stretch to a lawyer.

Ben and Jerry’s. Now that was a plan.

Skye flopped back onto the couch and dug into the last carton Cherry Garcia. She needed to get her head on straight. Figure out her next move. Work out exactly what the fuck it was she was supposed to have done.

Focus.

Skye put down the ice cream and picked up the controller again with renewed conviction. Time for some justice, far cry style.

She’d just finished picking her way carefully through the jungle foliage to sneak up on the pirate base when a loud buzzing interrupted her zen. With a sigh, Skye paused the game and slumped her way across to the intercom.

“Speak.”

A slightly tinny British accent flooded through the speaker.

“Skye, it’s Jemma. I’m here with Fitz, we heard what happened.”

Skye stabbed at the button.

“Come on up.”

She paused to unlock the door before settling back down on the couch, knowing that the Brits would let themselves in. She had a base to takedown.

Sure enough moments later, the quick clatter of Jemma’s heels echoed down the corridor as the pair made their way inside.

“Skye! We’ve been worried sick! Why haven’t you been answering your phone?”

Skye shrugged as she stared at the screen using her camera to mark off the potential targets. “I must have left it at the office or something. Haven’t seen it.”

She heard Jemma’s huff behind her. “Well that’s not like you...”

“Yeah,” Fitz cut in, “Normally that thing is like, surgically attached to your hand.”

Skye shrugged again, trying to ignore the churning feeling in her stomach.

Maybe that fifth carton of Ben and Jerry’s hadn’t been such a good idea after all.

She could hear movement behind her as Jemma and Fitz moved to come and sit beside her. Out of the corner of her eye, Skye could see Jemma’s face fall at the devastation left by Skye’s doomed attempt to eat away her feelings. Fitz collapsed into an armchair before shifting to remove the half demolished bag of Doritos from underneath his butt.

“Oooh, Ranch flavour...”

Skye frowned as she focused on the screen, ignoring the crunching sounds coming from her right. She’d forgotten this base came with snipers.

Jemma let out a sigh as she swept the empty wrappers into a neat pile. “We need you to know that we’re here for you.”

Skye blinked. There was a familiar growling coming from somewhere in the bushes.

“Skye? You do know that, don’t you?”

Skye shrugged as she turned her attention away from the base.

“Sure. Because you’re my friends, right?”

Somewhere...ahhh. Found it.

“Because you’re innocent.”

Skye lined up the tiger in her sniper scope. She just had to wait for it to turn around slightly. Pick her moment so it ran into the outpost and not straight towards her carefully chosen hiding spot amongst the undergrowth.

“...Skye.”

Wait for it. Just a quarter of a turn more.

“Skye.”

Almost. She just needed...

“Skye!”

The shout broke through as Skye fired. She turned away from her carefully planned carnage to face her friends.

“You are innocent, right?”

“Yes!...I mean, I think so...”Skye let out a sigh and covered her face with her hands. “I hope so.”

“How can you not know?”

“Oh god.” Murmured Fitz in horror as the chip fell from his fingers, “This is like some bad TV repeat.”

“There may have been a couple of policies that I didn’t _exactly_ follow to the letter...”

“It’s the job. It’s cursed.”

“You’re not helping, Fitz.” Jemma hissed before turning back to Skye. “Why don’t you tell us what happened?”

“That’s the problem,” Skye dropped her hands and turned to face her friend head on. “I don’t know what happened. One minute everything was awesome and the next...”

Jemma’s face was a picture of compassion as she leaned forward to rest her hand on Skye’s arm. “Come on, step by step. Talk us through it.”

Skye tucked her legs up as she swivelled on her seat. “I had this plan. And it was a great plan. There was going to be coffees, then flirting, then dancing... and I walked into the office and Grant was just sat there, behind my desk, and I thought... awesome, I can just ask him out now and give him his drink and this is going to be the best day ever but...”

“But?” Jemma probed gently.

“But he wouldn’t even look at me, Jemma. And the next thing I know, Coulson’s standing there and Grant’s being led off by May and they’re saying that there’d been some sort of data breach and I’m going to be escorted from the building! It doesn’t make sense! I wasn’t even in the office yesterday; I was at the barbeque with you guys...”

Skye trailed off as Jemma sat back with an odd look on her face. The clenching sensation in her gut exploded again as Skye heard Fitz mutter something under his breath, but she couldn’t make out the words past the rush of blood in her head.

All she could see was the expression on Jemma’s face.

Jemma knew something.

Jemma, who was giving a pointed look at Fitz right now, _knew_ something... And Skye had the feeling it wasn’t good.

“Jemma?” Skye swallowed, hoping to fix the tremor in her voice. “Jemma, what is it?”

But Jemma pinched her lips together and shook her head so Skye spun round to face Fitz.

“What did you just say?”

Fitz swallowed hard as he croaked out, “Lorelei.”

Skye frowned. “Lorelei? Isn’t that some sort of shampoo? What’s hair care got to do with this?”

“He’s talking about Lorelei Asguard.” Jemma sighed. “She was Shield’s receptionist before you.”

Skye sat back against the cushions as she looked between her increasingly uncomfortable friends. “And that has... what, exactly, to do with me?”

“She and Ward, had a _thing_. She spent months flirting with him,” Jemma rolled her eyes as she slowly eased back onto the couch. “It was ridiculous really.”

“Blatant.” Fitz cut in nodding vigorously. “Possibly even shameless.”

“Okaaaaaay,” Skye shook her head as she tried to follow the conversation. “Aside from her taste in men, I’m not really seeing the similarities here...”

Jemma’s eyes cut across to meet Skye’s dead on as she answered firmly. “That’s because there aren’t any. She was a manipulative, conniving little cow who was only after one thing.”

“Ward’s access to the company servers.” Fitz let out a shudder. “God, that was a bad time.”

Skye frowned then sat up. “Wait, so what you’re saying is, I’m under suspicion because the previous receptionist was shady?”

“Not just shady, Skye.” Jemma shook her head and pulled a face. “She stole months worth of work and ran straight to Hydra Solutions. We lost dozens of contracts, half our clients walked and the research team almost had a legal battle for the patents of their projects.”

“Everyone thought Ward did it.” Fitz added. “Because she’d used his log in details it looked like he was responsible. Then Hydra announced their newest partner and there she was grinning away in all the publicity shots. But well, the damage had been done by then. You know how Ward was.”

“Huh.” Skye flopped back as she processed the information. Certain pieces were starting to fall into place but... “None of this explains why they think it’s me, though!”

Skye pushed up from the couch and started to pace. “I mean, what, someone’s stealing company data so it must be the receptionist because it was last time? That’s ridiculous! Besides, there’s cameras in the lobby. Someone would have noticed.”

Jemma sighed. “You’re also the first person in the building besides his roommate that Ward’s shown an interest in. And he’s the only one who can access the server...”

“No he’s not.” Skye scoffed, “Anyone can. You can link to it through the mail system if you have...”

Skye trailed off as she suddenly flashed back to the company barbeque. The weird email that had pinged on her phone that she’d forwarded before giving it away to...

“Skye?”

Jemma was standing in front of her, concern sketched strongly across her features but all Skye could see was that stupid smiling face as she’d handed her phone over. Her phone that had remote access to the company system.

“I’m gonna kill him.”

“Skye?” Jemma’s concern was quickly turning to alarm but Skye couldn’t focus on her friend right now.

No.

Not when that smarmy son of a bitch from accounting was framing her.

She was going to track his weasel ass down and get her phone back.

And then probably beat him with it, the two faced bastard.

“Never trust a man with bad facial hair!” She spat out as the images flashed through her head.

Actually no.

Skye liked her phone too much to destroy on that loser. She’d just give him her _mega-killer-death-stare_. She’d watched enough Judge Judy to pull that off. She was going to make him _weep_.

Then get his ass sent to jail.

Skye sucked in a deep breath and opened her eyes to see matching expressions of unease on her friends faces.

“It was Miles.”

Jemma screwed up her face in confusion. “From accounting? He can barely open an excel document.”

Skye shook her head and resumed her pacing as the final pieces fell into place. “There was an email. On the day of the barbeque. I didn’t think much of it as it wasn’t addressed to me and at the time I thought it was just standard work things...”

Skye paused and sank back onto the couch with a groan. “I didn’t think because I was so caught up in everything that was going on. It was the project passwords. All of them. And then I gave my phone to Miles without logging out of the system.”

“But... that’s good, right?” Fitz started hesitantly, “If we have the email and Miles has the phone...”

“It will still have my access code.” Skye grabbed a pillow and held it over her face. “I’m screwed.”

The pillow was ripped away as Jemma rose to her feet.

“No you are _not_.”

Jemma turned to Fitz and nodded towards the doorway before she glanced back down at Skye. “We are going to fix this.”

For the first time in hours, Skye felt the hollowness inside her retreat at the sight of Jemma’s grim determination.

“How?”

Jemma shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.”

She spun and strode to the door, Fitz hurrying behind her.

Jemma paused as her hand reached the doorknob. “Oh, and Skye?”

Skye blinked. “Yeah?”

“You maybe want to think about having a tidy. Just a quick one.”

Jemma opened the door and marched out with Fitz in her wake, leaving Skye alone once again in the apartment. On the coffee table, the spoon in her ice cream finally decided to topple over, landing with a wet splat on the surface.

Skye let out a sigh.

At least this was one mess she could deal with. She rolled back her shoulders and got to work.


	5. Chapter 5

There were a lot of things Skye was good at, but sadly sitting idly by while her friends tried to fix her problems wasn’t one of them. She understood Jemma’s logic. Any attempt she made to log into Shield’s servers and work out what exactly she was up against carried far too high a risk of being caught by someone (Grant) and then making her look _more_ guilty to everyone (especially Grant).

So yeah, Skye could totally understand why her friends had stolen her modem and handed her Fitz’s old plastic brick of a phone that could just about text, maybe, on a good day. But once she’d slept off her food coma, Skye had been restless and the temptation to do something to clear her name had been overwhelming.

Skye understood their reasoning.

It just... sucked.

Skye let out a sigh as she slumped forward over her generic chain store coffee and glared at the offending piece of mobile technology on the table. Some insipid song warbled faintly through the coffee shop’s speakers, most of the lyrics inaudible under the hiss and whir of the coffee machines and the chatter around her. It was approaching mid morning and the trade in the coffee shop had slowed but not really let up since the pre-office rush when Skye had arrived and ordered her first house blend.

She was currently on her fourth.

If she only had her Smartphone back, then Skye could take advantage of the free Wi-Fi that was advertised on the posters and cardboard pop-ups liberally scattered throughout the seating area. It had been a big part of what had lured Skye through the doors in the first place, her desperate need for caffeine and getting out of her apartment being the main one.

The coffee shop’s location being the second.

Skye brought the mug to her lips, staring out the window beside her at the tall red brick building across the street.

Whoever it was that Hydra Solutions had hired to design their signage and logo had obviously missed the college modules relating to good taste. _‘Hydra Solutions: The Final Solution’?_

Yeah, Skye wasn’t going to touch that one with a ten foot barge pole.

Skye set down her mug and narrowed her eyes as she played with the flash drive on her keyring. She might not be able to get anywhere near Shield Consulting, either physically or digitally right now, but Hydra? The second that loser had stolen her phone in order to frame her, Hydra became fair game in Skye’s mind.

She just didn’t know how exactly she was going to pull off her epic counter strike. Sadly real life evil corporate headquarters didn’t come with strategically placed dumpsters and air vents large enough to accommodate seal team six (Skye knew. She’d checked.) It seemed that there was no way she was getting in.

Not without a computer at least.

The phone buzzed suddenly, causing Skye to pull her attention away from the window and onto the incoming text.

_Pigeon is still in the coup._

Skye frowned, her fingers stumbling a little as she tried to get used to the lack of predictive text.

_Why are you texting me about bird care, Jemma?_

There was a pause while the message sending animation ticked over before the phone buzzed again.

_I’m using codenames. Connery and I decided it would be best to help avoid anyone finding out what we’re doing._

The phone buzzed again.

_And call me Craig. We’ve decided you’re Kimble._

Skye blinked then shrugged. It did kinda make sense but...

_Pigeon?_

Buzz.

_Flying rats. Annoying pests that crap on everything. We felt it was appropriate._

Huh.

Skye pondered for a moment before giving another shrug of acceptance. Not what she’d have picked, true. But then again, her text messages currently came with a character limit which ruled out almost all of Skye’s possible alternatives.

_Works for me. Let me know if you find anything._

_Copy that. Bonds out._

Skye gave a small smile before she dropped the phone back onto the table. She couldn’t deny that it felt good knowing that her friends had her back but it didn’t help with her more immediate problem. Just how in the hell was she going to get into Hydra, gain access to their servers and clear her name?

A loud crash and a shout from across the room broke Skye’s introspection, causing her (and everyone else) to look over at the flush faced man currently berating an unlucky barista. From the overturned tray amidst the broken ceramics on the floor, to the trailing strap of a laptop bag half tucked under the table it was easy to see what had happened. But it wasn’t the unfolding drama that caught Skye’s attention. She was more interested in the corporate logo that had been revealed when the computer case had flipped over after tripping the unlucky staff member. Her fingers tightened around the thumb drive as she slipped it free from her keyring and rose to grab some paper napkins.

Fitzsimmons weren’t going to be the only ones that got to play Bond.

“Here,” Skye smiled her sweetest smile as she handed over some of the paper napkins. “Couldn’t help but notice you kinda seem to need these.”

Angry eyes glanced up to hers in a withering stare, but Skye’s expression didn’t falter. She started to lay down the rest of the napkins on the spill on the table as the suit mumbled something like a thank you and started to pat at the stains on his clothes.

Skye glanced back up at him and allowed her most sympathetic wince to flit across her face as she took in the damage. “I can continue cleaning this up if you wanna try and rinse the worst off in the mensroom...”

Skye purposefully didn’t allow her gaze to drift anywhere the laptop as she continued in the face of his hesitation, nodding towards her table. “I’m only killing time until the 5.30 bus to Portland anyway.”

There was a beat where Skye didn’t even allow herself to breathe as she prayed for her mark to take the bait.

“Don’t touch anything.”

Skye let felt the air in her lungs expel with a whoosh as the man raced off towards the restrooms, muttering darkly to himself. Using the napkins as cover Skye quickly plugged the thumb drive into one of the laptops usb ports, eyes darting to the back of the store as she waited for the device to connect.

_Ping._

Skye hit the combination of keys to start the program on the drive and waited for the second ping, her hands still mopping up the spilled liquids with a resigned smile in case anyone was watching. It seemed though, with the momentary drama resolved, that the other coffee shop customers were actively avoiding showing any sort of attention. Skye let out a little snort as she balled up the soaked through paper and let her fingers drum next to the drive. She didn’t blame them. Luckily the fact that Hydra only seemed to employ assholes was working in her favour right now...

Skye glanced up and saw the door to the mensroom swing open as Mr formerly covered in coffee emerged. Her fingers increased the speed of their drumming as she made a big show of gathering the rest of the napkins.

_Complete...complete...please complete..._

The man was getting closer. Skye forced a smile to her lips.

_Complete...._

_Ping!_

Skye quickly yanked the drive from the laptop and rose with the bundled wad of paper in her hands.

“Hey, all done. That suit looks better already!”

All Skye got in return was a grunt of acknowledgement.

Rude.

She ignored it though as she nodded to her hands, thumb drive safely hidden. “I’ll just go dump this. Glad to help.”

No response as Skye turned and made her way back to the table, pausing by the counter to drop off the trash. The Barista quickly collected the pile with a grateful smile and handed Skye a large mug topped off with whipped cream in return.

“It’s a thank you. For dealing with that. I think that asshole’s made every person who works here cry at least once.”

Skye beamed as she accepted the sugar laden goodness. “My pleasure. It was the least I could do.”

“Still, you didn’t have to. Although it was a little bit awesome to see him wearing that frappuccino.”

Skye winked as she leaned in closer. “They do say Karma’s a bitch.”

Karma was a bitch alright. And right now, so was Skye.

She felt her thumb drive safely tucked into the palm of her hand and felt her smile grow bigger.

Now all she had to do was let her little program do its thing.

And convince Fitzsimmons to return her laptop.

 

*

 

Skye glanced up at the clock hanging on her kitchen wall. The hands barely seemed to have moved at all since the last time she checked.

Maybe she needed to put new batteries in it?

Skye hopped up onto the kitchen countertop and reached out to snag the time piece, fingers outstretched and brushing the plastic frame when the clock let out a tick and the minute hand flicked over.

Skye froze then collapsed with a groan. What was taking so long? After leaving the coffee shop Skye had sent a text, demanding the return of her laptop from British clutches. Fired up on an excess of caffeine and sugar, she’d been on the verge of threatening tea supplies when Jemma (sorry _Craig_ ) had texted back promising to return it after work. With Skye’s suspension having revoked all of her Shield clearance and access privileges, it had been decided that the laptop was now safe.

Of course this had been at least four hours ago and Skye was ready to start climbing the walls.

Or kitchen surfaces it seemed.

Skye slid off the counter and paced her way back into her now immaculately tidy living room. The faint scent of ‘meadow flowers’ still lingered in the air after Skye had aggressively attacked every inch of visible surface space with the cleaner she’d found under the sink. She’d even dug out the coasters Jemma had bought her as a belated housewarming gift and set them up on the coffee table.

In other words, all this waiting was driving Skye crazy. She’d either be a drooling mess by the time Fitzsimmons got here, or else the transformation into a Stepford wife would be complete and she might as well resign herself to a life of pearls and choking on hairspray.

Skye didn’t think she even owned any pearls.

No, the only gem Skye currently owned was currently working its digital magic on a Hydra laptop and Skye couldn’t access it _until she got her freaking laptop back._

Skye threw another glare at the clock as the minute hand ticked forward another sluggish fraction.

Half past six.

Two hours since she’d been promised her laptop.

Two hours since Craig had texted that they were on their way out of the office.

Two hours since-

The intercom buzzer cut through the internal rant that was building inside Skye, causing her to dive across the room and almost crash into the wall in her haste to pick it up. She didn’t even wait for a greeting as she stabbed at the button and then replaced the handset and resumed her pacing.

Skye was at the door before Jemma had even managed to fully finish knocking, flinging it open and staring at her friend.

“Did you bring it?”

Jemma quickly closed her mouth which had dropped open in shock and opened the satchel slung over her shoulder. “Of course, but Skye-“

Skye didn’t let her finish as she grabbed the laptop and rushed back into the apartment.

Finally. Finally she could find out what she was up against. From behind her came the sound of the door closing and Jemma’s footsteps as she walked up to the couch.

“Skye, you need to know-“

“Shhhh.” Skye held up a hand as she finished booting up the computer and quickly logged onto the cloud storage site, her eyes scanning over the data the program was uploading. A few passwords, email access (could come in handy), auto saves of all documents opened...

“Skye!”

Jemma’s shout caused Skye to rip her attention away from the computer screen and actually look at her friend properly for the first time since she’d opened the door. Jemma’s hair was windswept, strands falling haphazardly from the usually pristine ponytail. Her fingers were clenching and unclenching on the satchel strap as she shifted her weight awkwardly from one foot to the other. But it was the worry on her face that concerned Skye the most and caused her stomach to lurch.

Skye swallowed and exhaled slowly. “Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”

“That’s just it!” Jemma exclaimed, stepping forward to collapse on the couch next to Skye. “I don’t know. Fitz was supposed to meet me in the lobby but he wasn’t there when I arrived after picking up your laptop. And then security started being all shifty and talking into their walkie talkies so I went into the girls’ room and had to climb out the window.”

Skye blinked, but Jemma wasn’t finished.

“And then I realised I couldn’t go past the front of the building because otherwise they’d know I’d escaped and wasn’t just using the facilities, so I had get out of the alley through the back entrance of the dry cleaners and they were not happy to see me and I kept apologising so they wouldn’t call the police and I had to take three separate buses just to get here because I felt like someone was watching...” Jemma let out a moan and covered her face with her hands. “And now you’re doing something on that laptop, and I don’t know what it is but you promised, _you promised me Skye_ , that you would stay clear of Shield’s servers and now they have Fitz and I’ve just brought you a laptop which makes me an accomplice...”

Skye shook her head as she reached forward and pulled Jemma’s hands away. “Look, I only got about half of that, but I swear to you, I’m not on Shield’s servers. I haven’t been near Shield at all.”

Jemma let out a sigh as relief flooded her features. “Oh thank god. Not that I thought, I mean, I did worry, but that’s only because everything’s been so crazy today and I’m rambling again aren’t I?”

Skye winced and nodded. “Just a bit. Do you want me to get you something to drink?”

Jemma visibly brightened. “Oh a cup of tea would be lovely right now.”

Skye froze as she tried to remember if she actually had any tea in the kitchen before covering with a reassuring smile. “I’ll see what I can do.”

To be honest, if she was out of tea, bourbon would probably work just as well.

 

*

 

Jemma reached for the bottle of Jack and poured some more into her mug before settling back further into the cushions. “So what exactly are you doing right now, Skye?”

Skye grinned as she snagged the bottle and topped up her own mug, savouring the warm fuzzy feeling as she swallowed another mouthful. “Right now? Nothing but watching. Charlie here is doing all the work.”

Jemma frowned. “Charlie?”

Skye grinned. “Yeah, Charlie.” She couldn’t hold back the giggle. “Cos Charlie don’t surf.”

“I’m afraid you’ve lost me.”

Skye laughed. “I met this guy back when I was in college-“

Jemma blinked. “I didn’t know you went to college, Skye.”

Skye grabbed a cushion and smacked the unsuspecting Brit, causing her to almost spill the mug of bourbon with an undignified squawk. “Hey! No interrupting!”

Jemma pouted apologetically as she checked for stray drops on her top. “Sorry.”

“And for the record, I did attend college.” Skye shrugged. “Just didn’t graduate but that’s beside the point. The point is, I met this guy and thought he was great. Smart, popular, always knew the right thing to say...”

Jemma beamed. “He sounds charming.”

“Oh he was. Right up until I found the camera he’d set up in my dorm room and the stash of photos and videos he’d made of me.”

Jemma gasped. “He didn’t.”

Skye nodded gravely. “He did. And he’d uploaded them to the internet too. Which is where Charlie comes in. It’s like a rain of napalm, tracks keystrokes, uses autosaves and metadata to track anything he does on his computer across the entire web and when I’m ready...”

Skye made the noise of an explosion as she gestured with her hands causing Jemma’s eyes to widen in recognition.

“Apocalypse now.”

Skye grinned. “Precisely. And no more surfing too.”

“But how does this help us?”

Skye nodded at the laptop screen. “You’re looking at Hydra’s main data server. It’s currently finding any file that has Shield id’s attached to it somewhere. Even if I can’t get the phone back and swat Miles like the bug he is, I should be able to make sure Hydra doesn’t have any useable data from him.”

Jemma let out a gasp. “Oh that is most impressive, but won’t this potentially backfire on Shield?”

“How?” Skye smirked. “Right now, I’m not technically an employee of Shield and even if they could crack my encryptions and trace everything back to me, this is a personal computer.”

“You know, I don’t think people give you enough credit.” Jemma reached for the bottle again and topped up both the mugs before raising hers in a toast. “Here’s to sticking it to Hydra.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Skye grinned as she raised her mug to clink against Jemma’s. She swallowed before turning back to the screen and letting out a frustrated sigh. “Now if only I could find those files Miles stole.”

Jemma frowned as she leaned over to peer at the screen over Skye’s shoulder. “Isn’t that what those highlighted ones are?”

“No.” Skye scanned through the data again before flopping back with a sigh. “I can’t find any trace of the data Miles stole on Hydra’s systems. The only files Charlie’s been able to flag are all at least two years old.”

Jemma’s eyes widened as she suddenly lurched forward, crashing into Skye. “Holy shit! Those must be the files Lorelei stole!”

Skye stared at the collection of files on screen as she felt the pieces slowly slotting into place in her mind. “Miles hasn’t been able to upload the data...”

Of course. If Miles had used Skye’s phone to access the files he wouldn’t be able to use it to transfer the files without re-entering her login.

Which he didn’t have.

Which meant they only needed to catch Miles with the phone...

Jemma seemed to have come to the same conclusion as the pair turned to face each other. However the moment was interrupted by a sudden blast of the mission impossible theme song emanating from Jemma’s bag. Skye let out a muffled shriek as the bourbon in Jemma’s mug threatened to go flying during the Brit’s lunge for her satchel.

“Fitz? Is that you? Listen. Miles still has the phone with all the files on. You just need to-“

Skye froze as Jemma suddenly cut off. She could hear a muffled garbled sound on the other end of the phone, but not clearly enough to know what Fitz was saying. Judging by the look on Jemma’s face however, it wasn’t good.

“Jemma?”

Jemma held up a finger as she continued to listen intently. With a clipped “copy that” she hung up and turned back to face an increasingly anxious Skye.

“What did he say Jemma?”

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning, Skye.”

Skye swallowed. Just then she heard the phone in her apartment start to ring.

Jemma leaned forward and grabbed Skye’s arm. “That’ll be Shield. Fitz says everything started to go crazy about five minutes ago. If you’re going to hit back at Hydra you might not get another chance.”

Skye nodded and hit the button to unleash the final stage of her program before closing the laptop. She sucked in a deep breath as she readied herself to answer the phone.

Jemma patted Skye’s arm before letting go and standing up.

“Just remember you’ve got people who believe in you, Skye.”

Skye fought back a sudden rush of tears as she smiled back at her friend. “Thanks, Jemma. For everything.”

Jemma nodded and gathered up her things as Skye headed to the phone.

It was time to find out her fate.

 

*

 

Skye caught herself shifting on the comfortable plastic chair she was currently sat on and froze.

Someone might be watching.

Was shifting supposed to be a sign of guilt?

Or was it the other way round?

Skye was sure she vaguely remembered reading something about how innocent people pace and fret while guilty people just relax and sleep.

On second thoughts, that might have been from an episode of C.S.I.

After answering the phone where her presence was all but demanded to be immediately at Shield, Skye hadn’t had a lot of time to do anything. Jemma had rushed off to try and see if they could find Skye’s Smartphone (ideally in Miles’ hand as he did something shady...like mug a granny. Or a Nun.) while Skye had hastily gargled mouthwash to try and counter the smell of whiskey on her breath.

Somehow she didn’t think turning up smelling of booze was going to help her, Smartphone or not.

On arriving at reception, no less than three members of security had turned up and escorted her into this conference room where she’d been told to wait before they all marched out again.

Wait.

Again with the waiting.

Skye was really bad at waiting.

What was taking so long anyway? They’d been pretty insistent that Skye come in Shield this second on the phone.

And now she’d been sat here for at least twenty minutes.

Maybe they were waiting to see if she’d crack.

Maybe Miles had miraculously gained the ability to hack her phone and had transferred the files and now they were waiting for the cops to show up and arrest Skye.

Skye let out a groan as her head thumped against the table in front of her. She was freaking herself out. She just needed to be calm and explain what happened. She just needed to-

Skye’s head snapped up as she heard the door open and Coulson entered the room flanked by May and a man she didn’t recognise.

Skye scanned their faces, looking for some clue as to their thoughts but May was as unreadable as ever while Coulson seemed to be avoiding looking at her.

Was that bad? That was bad.

Skye swallowed and rose to her feet, hands moving to smooth down her skirt before she remembered she was still wearing the jeans and oversized shirt she’d had on when Jemma had turned up. May sat down at the table while the unknown man stood by the door. Finally Coulson met her gaze.

He winced.

Skye blinked. That was unexpected.

Coulson cleared his throat and gestured to Skye’s chair. “Please have a seat, Skye.”

Skye slowly sank down, her eyes flitting between Coulson and May as he continued to speak. “It has been brought to our attention that recent actions taken by Shield Consulting may have been a little hasty and I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to you now for that. We allowed previous events to colour our judgement and acted before being in full possession of the facts.”

Skye blinked. The sound of Coulson’s voice started to be difficult to focus on other the thrumming in her head. Vaguely she was aware of shouting echoing from somewhere down the corridor. The man by the door frowned and moved to close it, but not before Skye caught a glimpse of Miles, flanked by two security guards, being led past the room.

“...would accept?”

Skye snapped her head back to Coulson, aware that everyone in the room now seemed to be looking at her expectantly. She opened her mouth to speak but didn’t manage to get any words out before Coulson suddenly snapped his fingers.

“That’s right. You’ll be needing this back.”

Skye felt her heart leap as she saw her phone appear from his pocket and slid across the table towards her. Hesitantly she reached out and picked it up, trying to hold back the tears from the reassuring comfort of having it back in her hands again.

“So I hope you would be willing to stay with us here, Skye. Again, I can’t apologise enough for the mix-up.”

“How did you know?” The words were quiet but Coulson smiled anyway.

“Let’s just say you have friends in the right places. Can we count on you having a place here too?”

Skye smiled down at her phone and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I think you can.”

“Good to hear.”

Coulson and his team filed out of the room leaving Skye sat back in her chair, stunned. Fitzsimmons had come through after all.

Her phone buzzed in her hand with an incoming text.

_Fitz says you have to buy the first round because he spent two hours facing down May for you._

Skye couldn’t hold back the laugh and started to compose her response when the phone buzzed again.

_You’re welcome by the way.;)_

Skye hit send on her response and grabbed her things. She had a bar to get to and friends to celebrate with.


	6. Chapter 6

“Oh god, I needed this.”

Skye bit back a smile as Fitz reached out for one of the mojitos and quickly clutched it to him, noisily slurping up the alcoholic beverage through one of its straws. Jemma was less subtle with her eye roll as she grabbed the remaining drinks off Skye’s tray, allowing her friend to slide into the booth.

“So,” Jemma prompted once Skye had sat down, “May cornered you on your way down to the lobby...”

Jemma barely had time to finish her sentence before Fitz slammed his nearly empty glass on the table with an empathetic head shake.

“She didn’t just corner me, Jemma! She marched me into a little room and left me sat at an empty desk, looking for the two way mirror, wondering if I was going to get a phone call before they booted me out as well.”

“Well, Fitz. I didn’t exactly count on making a quick retreat through a bathroom window, you know. It’s hardly dignified.”

Skye hid her smile behind a strategic swallow as her friends started to compare who had had the most traumatic experience over the last twenty four hours. However the swift descent into references to British crime dramas meant even if Skye didn’t have other things on her mind, she would still be having a hard time following the conversation.

As it was, Skye couldn’t help but find her eyes kept drifting over the rest of the post-work crowd in the busy bar. Located on the street corner just down from the office, ‘Busman’s Holiday’ (shortened to ‘The Bus’ by its regulars) was a popular hangout for Shield employees. But even for a Friday, the crowd seemed usually large, especially the huddle by the bar.

Dimly aware of repeated talk of ‘murrrrrrduh’ and ‘crackers’, (Skye wasn’t even going to begin to try and figure out connection) Skye found herself rising with the excuse of refilling their drinks and making her way back into the crowd.

Once past the pillar which separated the bar area from the booths in the back, Skye could see nearly everyone’s attention was riveted on the twin TV screens which were currently showing a frazzled looking presenter in front of a stock exchange graphic.

Skye moved in closer, trying to make out the text that was flashing across the banner at the bottom of the screen when she was bumped from behind.

“Damn, I’m sorry... Skye?”

Skye turned round to find herself looking up into a familiar pair of eyes.

“Trip! Hey... what’s going on?”

Trip shook his head with a grin. “Damned if I know. Christmas isn’t supposed to be for a few months yet. But it seems that Karma has finally decided to take out the competition.”

Skye felt her stomach do an awkward flip as she struggled to maintain her confused expression. “Karma?”

Trip shook his head with a grin before his eyes snapped back to the screen. The bar fell suddenly silent as the image switched to the front of Hydra Solutions where a steady stream of official looking people were walking out carrying office equipment and boxes. With the murmur of the crowd gone, the reporter could finally be heard clearly in the bar.

“...word is that several of the top partners are facing a whole host of charges including but not limited to tax fraud, money laundering and even blackmail of a serving US Senator...”

“Oh my word,” came an incredulous gasp from just behind Skye’s left shoulder. She turned to meet Jemma’s wide-eyed expression, the two Brits seeming to have made their way over at some point during the news announcement.

“...experts are being tight lipped about the exact cause of the data server collapse which led to the charges today, but were keen to stress that an internal error was thought to be the culprit and not a malicious attack as was previously speculated. This may however be a moot point seeing as industry insiders are talking of an increasing list of Hydra’s former clients planning their own legal action...”

Trip shook his head as a grin flittered across his face, “Not a lot else you can say to that.”

Jemma arched an eyebrow as she caught Skye’s gaze, “Apocalypse wow, perhaps?”

Skye could only shake her head wordlessly as the reporter signed off and the TV cut back to the studio. There was no way her program could have done all that... was there?

As the news anchors moved on to cover other topics the noise in the bar rose abruptly as conversations dissecting the story broke out all around. Trip shook his head as he reached into his jacket pocket to pull out his cell.

“Damn, wish Grant was here to see this. Although if this is the result of all that time he’s been spending on his ‘special project’ it’s probably best for my budget that he isn’t.”

Skye felt her stomach give another flip at the Trip’s words.

“Special project?”

Trip grinned and nodded as he continued typing, his fingers flying over the Smartphone screen.

“Boy’s been downright antisocial. Locked away in his room muttering about i.p. tracking and a whole bunch of computer stuff I had no idea about. I was starting to think I needed to get Momma Triplett round to force him to eat, but then he got all excited this morning and took off for the office before I even had a chance to lay on my breakfast special. If he’s fallen asleep at his desk and missed this...”

The jittery feeling in Skye’s stomach had only intensified during Trip’s speech, and now as he finished texting and put away his phone to meet Skye’s eyes with a wink, even her knees felt shaky. Skye opened her mouth (to say what exactly she had no idea), but before she could even begin to force the words out Trip’s eyes had drifted over her shoulder and his expression instantly changed.

“Shit. Heads up people. We got incoming.”

Skye turned, aware that Fitzsimmons were doing likewise, to see a tall redhead in what appeared to be a very expensive designer suit stalking towards them, murder in her eyes.

“Oh my god,” murmured Fitz. “The bitch is back.”

Skye glanced over at Jemma to see her mouth the word _Lorelei_ moments before a sharp British accent cut through the noise at the bar.

“Where the hell is he, Antoine?”

Moments later and Skye was almost choking on the cloud of hairspray and perfume that surrounded the woman stood next to her. Trip’s eyes narrowed but he otherwise made no response as Lorelei practically vibrated with anger, her words coming out clipped and pointed.

“I don’t care how big the hole he’s currently hiding in is, you better get that prissy piece of shit here right now.”

Trip shifted his weight as he crossed his arms. “I think you need to take that attitude of yours and leave, before the stink brings environmental health round.”

Lorelei stepped closer and jabbed a perfectly manicured finger in Trip’s chest. “I don’t know what he did, or how he did it, but I know he’s behind it.”

“Behind what, Lorelei?”

“Everything!” Lorelei snapped as she flung her arms out. Skye was knocked out of her shocked state as the gesture caused Lorelei’s left arm to smack into Skye’s shoulder.

And painfully.

“Hey!” Skye cried as she massaged the injured area. “Watch where you’re flinging those things.”

There was a moment of silence before Lorelei slowly turned round to face Skye head on. Her eyes raked up and down Skye before she was dismissed with a sneer.

“This is a private conversation, sweetheart. Why don’t you just run along and stop butting in where you’re not wanted.”

Skye blinked.

_Excuse me?_

Oh. It was on.

Skye raised an eyebrow as she cocked her head to one side. “Funny. Seeing as how I’m not the one making a scene in a public bar, but I guess the thought of looming unemployment will do that to a person.”

Skye was vaguely aware of a sharp intake of breath from the other Brits behind her right shoulder, but she didn’t look away as Lorelei took a step closer, bringing the two almost face to face.

“It’s sweet that you want to stick up for your friends. Touching, even. But seeing as I could walk into my old job tomorrow and they’d be thrilled to have me back, your opinions are neither necessary nor relevant.”

Trip’s snort of amusement caused Lorelei to look away and glare at him.

“Laugh it up.” She sniffed before flipping her hair over her shoulder, forcing Skye to lean back to avoid another assault. “I know I’m irreplaceable.”

Trip grinned as he nodded towards Skye. “Gonna have to argue on that point. Although she’s not really a replacement... more like an improvement.”

Skye smiled sweetly as Lorelei slowly spun back to face her. “Hi.”

Lorelei stared at Skye before a small contemptuous smile played across her face. “So that explains it... tell me, how long was it before he started sending you the sweet little emails? Called you up just to share one of his amusing anecdotes? Don’t think you’re special just you got the boy. Our Grant falls for any pretty face that laughs at his jokes.”

Skye could feel her nails digging into her palms as her hands formed fists at her side. Although she tried to keep her composure it seemed something must have slipped as Lorelei let out a laugh before a mocking pout appeared on her face.

“Or maybe you’re not so special after all...”

Skye felt something inside her snap, but instead of rage flooding her veins all she could feel was a calm serenity taking over. She shrugged, ignoring the way Lorelei’s nostrils flared as the barb failed to land.

“You’re right. I’m not special. I’m no better than anyone else in that office.” Skye smiled as her eyes narrowed and she stepped up closer to Lorelei. “But Grant is. And he shows me, every single day and in a thousand little ways. When he smiles at me, it’s because I’ve _earned_ it. And that means everything.”

“Really?” Lorelei arched an eyebrow and stepped back, throwing her arms out in a sweeping gesture spanning the crowd that was forming around them. “So where is he then? Surely a man as wonderful as you claim should be at his girlfriend’s side, celebrating... whatever it is you deem worth cheap beer and vodka shots.”

Skye swallowed to stop her teeth clenching together. She was not going to let herself by intimidated or put down by someone who would screw over her friends without blinking.

Skye knew she was better than that.

She pushed her shoulders back and stood up straight as she looked Lorelei in the eye.

“We’re not together.”

Lorelei grinned triumphantly as she forced the confession from Skye’s lips. “Then I suggest you, and your pathetic little crush get out of my way.”

“No.” Skye shook her head and let out a laugh. “You know what? It doesn’t matter what is or isn’t happening between Grant and me. He’s not some toy you can switch off and turn on again when it suits you. His _pinkie_ has more worth than all your designer clothes and expensive dye job put together so I’m not going to get out of your way. My place is right here; standing right in front of you to make sure you can’t ever hurt him again.”

Lorelei gaped at Skye before sniffing haughtily. “Touching.”

“I think we’re done here.”

Skye rolled her eyes as she turned away. From behind her she could hear Lorelei’s outraged gasp.

“No-one turns their back on me!”

Skye shrugged but didn’t turn back round.

“Not my fault you’re standing behind me.”

The next few seconds seemed to happen on fast forward. From Lorelei’s inarticulate cry of rage, to Trip’s sudden exclamation of surprise, to the gasps and then silence of the crowd around her and the ice sensation of Trip’s cold bourbon on the rocks suddenly drenching Skye.

Skye turned. Lorelei stood smirking proudly. Skye held eye contact as she slowly dragged a finger through the alcohol dripping down her arm and brought it up to her lips.

“Mmmm.” Skye hummed, “Tastes like victory.”

Lorelei froze as the crowd around them suddenly burst out into cheers and shouts of support. Skye grinned as Lorelei spun on her heel with a final shriek and stormed out of the bar, the now jeering crowd parting before her.

Jemma and Fitz turned to Skye with incredulous expressions as Trip slung a supportive arm round Skye’s shoulder.

“Damn girl.”

Trip pulled his arm away with a grimace as the bourbon started to soak through his shirt. Skye threw her friends a wry smile.

“After all that I think I need a shower.” Skye glanced over at Fitzsimmons, “Still fancy some COD later?”

Jemma nodded. “We’ll finish these, grab some food and head over.”

“Awesome.” Skye grinned.

Then winced as another trickle of liquor made its way down past her shoulder blades.

Definitely time for a shower.

 

*

 

The buzzer on the intercom suddenly blared loudly, drowning out the hero’s sassy comeback in the waterlogged climatic battle. Skye paused the movie with a grin as she bounced up from the couch and hurried over to door. She’d known that Fitzsimmons would change their minds about coming over. The rain that had started on Skye’s walk back to her apartment from the bar had thankfully helped to shake the sticky feeling, but had led to a flurry on texts as her friend’s ummed and ahhed about the possibility of finding a cab.

Since when had rain stopped a couple of Brits? True the deluge outside had left the streets all but deserted, however Skye knew that it would take more than that to deter her friends.

“Come on up” She punched the unlock button without bothering to wait for a reply. The default static combined with the hissing rain made all attempts at communication fruitless anyway (Skye had discovered this earlier after a confusing non conversation with the pizza delivery guy.)

Skye swung open the door and felt her knees buckle as she tightened her grip on the door frame.

“...Grant”

The guy was drenched, his hair almost black from where the rain had flattened it again his head. Little beads of water clung to any part of skin that wasn’t covered. His T-shirt was completely soaked through and clinging to his body so Skye could see the way his chest rose and fell with each breath.

But it was his eyes that had caught her attention and refused to let go.

“What are you doing here?” Skye forced out the words.

Grant swallowed. His voice was rough when he spoke. “Did you mean it?”

Skye shook her head in confusion, unable to look away as Grant took a step closer. “What you said. To Lorelei. Did you mean it?”

“Ye..”

Skye’s reply was cut off as Grant suddenly was there, hands softly framing her face, lips pressed against hers.

Oh god.

He could kiss.

He could _really_ kiss. He gently angled her head to improve the contact and suddenly Skye realised she needed to get with the programme and reciprocate.

Her arms flew up around his neck and her body pressed tight against his as she dragged him the final few steps inside her apartment, letting the door swing shut before she spun and used it as leverage to help work her way up higher.

She felt Grant’s tongue gently flick against her mouth, seeking entrance and that seemed like totally a good idea right now.

_Definitely a good idea._

Eventually they parted for breath. Grant looked down with a rueful expression at the damp patches on Skye’s top from where she’d been pressed against him. “Sorry, I...”

Skye grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head, feeling a rush through her body at the way Grant’s eyes suddenly darkened.

“Fixed it” she breathed before pushing at the jacket on Grant’s shoulders.

Moments later she had freed him from both jacket and T-shirt and successfully reengaged their lips as they stumbled their way across the floor of her lounge, eventually crashing into the sofa and falling onto the cushions..

“Sorry” Grant breathed as he tried not to crush Skye.

“Don’t worry about it,” Skye murmured back as she allowed her hands to roam the planes of Grant’s back as she pulled him down for another kiss.

“This wasn’t my plan when I came here...” Grant started awkwardly before trailing off and letting out a sigh as he ran his fingers down her side.

Skye quirked an eyebrow. “Really? Cos this has kinda been my plan since that night at the Barbeque.”

Ward blinked in surprise at her causing Skye to grin as she quickly pressed a chaste kiss against his lips. “I was going to butter you up with coffee first though.”

Grant grinned and he lowered himself down gently to kiss at her mouth. “You don’t need to butter me up at all.” He breathed against her neck as he started to kiss down towards her collar bone.

“Good to know.” Skye wiggled further down beneath him as she pulled his head back up to hers. “Although, how do you feel about ice cream and fudge sauce because I think that would suit you better...”

Grant paused then laughed out loud causing Skye’s grin to grow even wider.

“Ask me again to tomorrow.” He murmured as he went back to kissing her neck.

Skye couldn’t help the blissful sigh that escaped from her lips. Then she processed what Grant had said.

“Why tomorrow?” Skye asked as she poked Grant in his side.

He didn’t look up from his task as his lips ghosted his reply.

“Because tomorrow’s Sunday.”

Skye blinked. Then laughed out loud.

"In which case... you.My bed. Right now."

Grant finally looked up with a grin, "Can't argue with that."

"Damn right." Skye asserted as she chased one last kiss. "Just remember, sleep is for the weak."

 

*

 

“When I first saw you, I thought you had the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen.”

Grant pressed a kiss onto Skye’s forehead before he shifted slightly, his arms tightening briefly as he rolled them onto their sides, his body cradling hers. Skye could feel the gentle puffs of air as he buried his nose in her hair, his voice muffled and only half awake as he spoke. “I was wrong to think that was all there is.”

Skye smiled as she slid her hand up the arm Grant had wrapped around her chest and gently patted it reassuringly. “S’Okay. I thought you were a stripper.”

There was a sleepy hum from behind her as his fingers swept feather light circles on her skin.

Wait for it.

Wait...

Grant’s fingers suddenly froze.

“...Wait. What?”

Skye grinned into her pillow. Boom. Headshot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive thank-yous to everyone who's taken the time to read this, especially those of you kind enough to leave kudos and comments. I've had a blast and hope this conclusion is worth the SHOCKING wait I put you all through.
> 
> Seriously, if you stuck it out, you're awesome and the reason I've been kicking myself to finally get this finished.  
> This was for all of you guys.


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